Vicente Luque, who was scheduled to fight Ian Machado Garry at UFC 296 before the bout was cancelled due to Garry’s pneumonia, has agreed to fight Kevin Holland, who offered to step in as a replacement, but there is no official word from the UFC on this arrangement yet.
Vicente Luque, the welterweight veteran, is still hoping to fight at UFC 296. His original bout with Ian Machado Garry, scheduled for this Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, was scrapped due to Garry’s pneumonia.
Now, just days away from the event, it seems Luque might have to wait until next year to step back into the octagon. But wait, there’s a twist. Kevin Holland, always ready for action, has offered to step in and keep Luque on the card.
On Wednesday, Holland took a cheeky jab at Machado Garry on social media. He hinted in his post that he’s ready to step in as a replacement to fight Luque in a 180-pound catchweight bout.
Mike Heck from MMA Fighting reached out to Holland’s manager, Oren Hodak of KO Reps. Hodak confirmed that they had indeed contacted the UFC on Wednesday night. They wanted to assure the UFC that Holland is serious about fighting this Saturday.
Luque didn’t leave us hanging for long. He responded to Holland’s offer and agreed to the 180-pound stipulation. “So guys,” Luque said in a social media video, “I saw that Kevin Holland wants to jump in to substitute for the fight Saturday night and I’m down.”
He continued, “So Kevin, if you’re really down to come here, let’s do this. Let’s mix it up. Let’s get in that octagon and go to war and hey, I’m willing to do 180, so we can do it at 180 and let’s put on a show for all the crowd.”
However, there’s still no official word from the UFC. We don’t know if a preliminary fight will be moved up to replace Luque vs. Machado Garry on the UFC 296 main card. Also, it’s unclear whether the promotion is actually considering having a new opponent step in to fight Luque on such short notice.